The cellular components that comprise haematopoietic supportive marrow stroma and associated skeletal tissues are derived from a population of multipotential cells including multipotential mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and their precursors (mesenchymal precursor cells (MPCs)). MPC reside within the bone marrow spaces located primarily in perivascular niches which surround blood vessels (Gronthos S at al., 2003 and Shi S et al., 2003). Over the last two decades, studies have focused on the regenerative potential of different human stromal/mesenchymal cell populations to reconstitute fat, bone, cartilage and muscle (Gronthos S et al., 2003 and Simmons P J at al., 1991). However, the successful application of these technologies is dependent on the ability to isolate purified populations of MPC and to subsequently manipulate their growth and differentiation ex vivo. Moreover, there is a need to overcome the various technical and safety concerns often associated with stem cell based therapies by assessing the safety and efficacy of MPC preparations in appropriate large pre-clinical animal models representative of human diseases. Ovine models of human orthopaedic and cardiac disease/trauma have been widely used, as sheep share similarities with human anatomy, physiology, immunology and embryonic development (Airey J A at al., 2004; Liechty K W at al., 2000 and Mackenzie T C et al., 2001).
Whilst, several human multipotential cell specific markers such as STRO-1, CD106, CD146 have been described in the literature (Gronthos S at al., 2003 and Shi S et al., 2003), significant progress in examining the therapeutic potential of multipotential cells in ovine models of human disease has been limited due a lack of specific reagents which enable the isolation and characterisation of an equivalent multipotential cell population in ovine tissues. The development of biological reagents, such as monoclonal antibodies, reactive with both ovine and human multipotential cells would greatly facilitate the capacity to monitor and equate the functional properties of both ovine and human multipotential cell populations in pre-clinical and clinical trials, respectively.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.